Answers
ethics vs laws -
correct answer ✅Ethics: pertains to standards that govern the
conduct of its professional members
pertains to beliefs we hold about what constitutes right conduct
(ethics are moral principles adopted by people to provide rules for
right conduct)
Represents aspirational goals or max ideal standards set by
profession and enforced by them
Law: body of rules that govern people within a community, state,
or country
counselors governed by ethics or laws -
correct answer ✅both
what do ethical codes do? primary purpose, and 3 objectives -
correct answer ✅** primary purpose is to safeguard welfare of
clients by providing what is in their best interest
-- Provide broad guidelines for practitioners
-- Fulfill 3 objectives:
1. educate professionals about sound ethical conduct
,Ethics section CPCE Exam Questions And
Answers
2. provide a mechanism for professional accountability
3. serve as catalysts for improving practice
7 themes of ethical codes -
correct answer ✅promote welfare of consumers
practice within scope of one's competence
doing no harm
protect client's confidentiality and privacy
acting ethically and responsibly
avoiding exploitation
upholding integrity of profession by striving for aspirational practice
when to break confidentiality -
correct answer ✅cases involving child abuse, abuse of the elderly,
abuse of dependent adults
when therapist believes client is danger to self or others.
When the therapist believes a client under the age of 16 is the
victim of incest, rape, child abuse, or some other crime
When information is made an issue in a court action
,Ethics section CPCE Exam Questions And
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When clients request that their records be released to them or to a
third party
duty to warn -
correct answer ✅-- law requiring mental health professionals to
make a reasonable effort to contact the identified victim of a
client's serious threats of harm, or to notify law enforcement of the
threat
-- duty to warn only applies to threats regarding future violence;
reports of past violence may not be reported and are protected as
confidential info
duty to protect -
correct answer ✅-- duty to protect applies to situations where
mental health professional has legal obligation to protect an
identified 3rd party who is being threatened but in these cases the
professional generally has other options in addition to warning the
person of harm
-- duty to protect provides ways of maintaining client confidentiality
whereas duty to warn requires a disclosure of confidential info to
the person who is being threatened
, Ethics section CPCE Exam Questions And
Answers
Relevant court cases to duty to warn -
correct answer ✅Tarasoff vs Regents of the Univ. of CA 1974
Ewing vs. Goldstein (2004)
Tarasoff vs Regents of the Univ. of CA 1974 -
correct answer ✅-- student Poddar was a patient at student health
services at Berkeley seeing therapist, Moore. Poddar confided to
Moore his intention to kill Tarasoff upon returning from Brazil.
Moore contacted campus police but did not contact Tarasoff (no
law yet obligating to tell the threatened individual). Poddar was
released from police and killed Tarasoff when she returned.
Tarasoff's parents sued for univ. not telling victim of threat so now
there is duty to warn
-- Tarasoff court decision made it clear that client confidentiality
can be readily compromised to protect identified victims/public
Ewing vs. Goldstein (2004) -
correct answer ✅-- court expanded practitioner's duty to warn
those in danger to include the circumstance in which a family
member communicates to a mental health practitioner a belief that
the client poses a risk to grave bodily injury to another person